1) If by “spiritual aspects of redemption” you mean “Jesus dying on behalf of our sins so we can be forgiven” – then no, Jews did not have that concept of redemption. If you mean a wholehearted return to the covenant and obedience-filled love for God – then that was certainly part of the (at least some) Jewish concept(s) of God’s eschatological intervention. The Qumran sect, for example, believed that in the last days, much, if not most or all of Israel would repent and adhere to their strict understanding of the covenant and its laws.

As to your question about Jews not believing in Jesus – I think it is because Jesus did not establish the full physical redemption on earth they were expecting (whether it would be narrowly conceived of as political liberation from the Romans or broadly conceived in terms of an Isianic “new heavens and new earth”). Schalom Ben-Chorin (a non-Jesus-believing Jew) put it quite well in saying, “The Jew is profoundly aware of the unredeemed character of the world, and he perceives and recognizes no enclave of redemption in the midst of its unredeemedness. The concept of the redeemed soul in the midst of an unredeemed world is alien to the Jew, profoundly alien, inaccessible from the primal ground of his existence. This is the innermost reason for Israel’s rejection of Jesus, not a merely external, merely national conception of messianism. In Jewish eyes, redemption means redemption from all evil. Evil of body and soul, evil in creation and civilization. So when we say redemption, we mean the whole of redemption. Between creation and redemption we know only one caesura: the revelation of God’s will.”

2) Pet peeves are certainly permitted and I would be the worst one to pooh-pooh them, especially when they come from someone so amicable such as yourself. You would be correct in saying that “faith” in a biblical sense is trusting in, allegiance to and discipleship of Jesus, not just intellectual assent (although it might be difficult to trust and follow with zero intellectual content!). I am content to call my essay the notional content of Christian faith. Worldview I would see more as a sum total of the praxis, story, symbol and questions of a given “culture” (cf. “The transforming vision: shaping a Christian world view” by Brian J Walsh and Richard Middleton).

Haha! This was fun. Hope to see you more around here Amanda!

Q’s:
1) What about the expectations of many Jews in the time of Jesus as a political & military figure to rid them of Roman occupation (e.g., Peter objecting to Jesus’s death)? The Jewish concept of salvation at the time of Jesus didn’t seem to encompass the full spiritual aspects of redemption. It might help explain why the Jews still reject Jesus as Messiah today (i.e. He died and didn’t establish His kingdom fully right away). I’m assuming you’ll address this in some form later?

2) Is it right to say that this essay is an articulation of the Christian faith or the Christian worldview? Wouldn’t Christian faith be believing and following Jesus, not merely knowing the correct facts? Perhaps just a semantic pet peeve of mine.

Wait, am I allowed to start debates on this blog?